Career guidance key to economic development
As the academic year draws to an end, learners need to speak to parents and counsellors
AS YOUTH unemployment and poverty become the most serious problems facing the country, and while, ironically, along with this unemployment, we are facing a growing shortage of appropriate skills, many high school seniors will soon be preparing for their final year of school before heading to university or the workplace.
Whatever this year’s National Senior Certificate candidates’ personal choices are after finishing school, better career guidance could play a vital role during the next four months. The shortage of scarce skills, an oversupply of low-demand skills, high tertiary dropout rates, and idle youth are all symptomatic of poor career planning.
So in the last few months of the year, what can our youth do to make the best of the next stage of their career path? Career guidance has always been central to a person’s career development.
At the forefront of career guidance delivery are school guidance counsellors, life orientation teachers, student support staff at universities and TVET colleges, student recruitment officers at universities, employment services practitioners at labour centres and career guidance practitioners at youth advisory centres.
As the academic year draws to an end, learners need to talk to their parents, guardians or mentors. They need to attend career-path workshops and expos, apply for scholarships and seek internships.
There is no doubt that career development starts at home. Young people need help to make the right choices. The role of parents in influencing their children’s career decisions is of paramount importance. Parents and mentors can help steer a career discussion in the right direction.
Remember, though, the parents’ role is to advise, not impose. Parents should avoid shooting down their children’s ideas and pressurising them to fulfil parental ambitions, without taking into consideration the child’s unique strengths and interests.
Parental prodding is only one of a wide spectrum of factors that shape career choice. Other forces at work include peer pressure, personal values like philanthropy or materialism, and business trends such as the availability of jobs.
Times have changed and, thanks to the internet, children are more savvy about careers that parents may not have considered viable options.
How early should career education programmes start at schools? In my opinion, effective career development interventions must begin early in secondary grades and continue into adult years. Efforts to intervene in the life-career process can accelerate or strengthen the acquisition of knowledge, attitudes and skills about oneself and the world of work.
Career counsellors have many tools and resources to assist young people and point them in the right direction.
The Gauteng Department of Education has rolled out a career development practitioner’s (CDP) programme in schools across the Gauteng City Region to provide additional career guidance support and counselling to Grade 8 and 9 learners.
Events such as career expos, industry focus weeks and subject choice fairs provide opportunities for Grade 10 to 12 learners to get information on future careers and employment opportunities in different industries, as well as bursaries and financial aid in the relevant sectors.
Ultimately, the CDP programme helps Gauteng learners keep their eyes open for opportunities that will allow them to reach their potential.
The CDP programme has concluded that a good career advisory programme should meet three criteria: help learners achieve academically; prepare for a career and higher education; and develop good citizenship skills.
Without structured guidance, learners may drift through high school without learning about the career opportunities available and without gaining the skills that can help them take advantage of those opportunities. They may also fail to move on to tertiary institutions or, worse, drop out of high school.
Remember that we all have natural talents, which are the key to choosing the right career. And each of us has a preferred work style.
Career guidance is about creating a better economy that will work for the working young people, and imparting the right skills to the youth will propel young future leaders to the top. Career guidance is also vital for the development of the country. Lesufi is Gauteng MEC for Education. Follow him on Twitter @Lesufi and on Facebook.
We all have natural talents, which are the key to choosing the right career PANYAZA LESUFI Gauteng MEC for Education